“It was … 30 percent off for December … but it was huge for the ice fishing equipment like, you know, the ice shanties and the ice augers. That was a disaster,” added Veronica Pinto. “This is a struggle. It’s hard.”

Pinto said that the racks of lures are usually empty by now, but they remain full.

She said she expects business will pick up when the lake finally freezes.

“You sell very few until that ice hits and then all of a sudden it’s like, alright, we need a shanty now. And then come in and then you’ve got serious buyers,” Pinto said.

The “Nautical Mile Pond Hockey Winter Classic,” a new amateur hockey tournament to be played on the canals of the lake in St. Clair Shores, has been postponed.

Meantime, the warmer winter weather continues. AccuWeather says we can expect temperatures to remain above freezing on Thursday and climb well into the 40s on Friday. High temperatures in Metro Detroit are expected to remain above average over the weekend and into next week.